Аннотация:The Sustainable Development of the Biosphere is a book which explains an ambitious international program begun in 1982 at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria. The program brings together historians, geographers, environmental scientists, economists, managers, and policymakers from a wide range of countries to address the question, what should society do to reverse global changes caused by the degradation of the environment. This book of collected and edited overviews represents the conclusion of the first phase of a program that is planned to continue for several more years.